About Me

My name is Brett Sutherland and I was born and raised in Aotearoa (New Zealand). I am a self-taught carver, having started at 16 in the traditional Maori art of bone carving. I kept this as a hobby for 13 years, before turning professional in 1997.

My subjects include a variety of Maori and other tribal styles, as well as a lot of contemporary design and netsuke carvings.

After completing a Bachelor of Science degree, majoring in Zoology, I spent the next 12 years travelling and working around the world. This brought me into contact with many different tribal peoples, from Africa to Alaska, exposing myself to their art, materials and tools. This was a great experience in cultural exchange.

I carve in a wide range of materials – from fossilised mammoth ivory (10,000-60,000 years old), mammoth and bison leg bone, whale ivory and bone (when available), wild boar tusk, moose and deer antler, and leg bones from giraffe, eland, zebra, gnu, elk, moose, bear, dog and cow. My carvings are displayed in galleries in Auckland, Vancouver, Toronto, and the Caribbean. And they are worn worldwide by an incredible variety of people.

For the more exotic materials like Mammoth Ivory, I prefer to carve completely without the use of power tools, instead using only hand tools as a respect for the ancient medium. This also adds a different energy to the finished piece.

After five years back in New Zealand working in the film industry, and carving and creating garden sculptures, I moved to Toronto, Canada, where I studied the art of tattooing. I lived in St. Maarten for a number of years, where I ran the Rebl 7 Tattoo Studio, only metres from the blue Caribbean Sea.

I returned to New Zealand in 2013, and set about building myself a Tiny House on a trailer, which has since become my home, parked at the beautiful Bethell’s Beach, west of Auckland. I am currently working at creating other Tiny House designs as well.

I hope you enjoy the site, and please feel free to contact me (+64 27 965 5642) for any further information, orders etc. Cheers.